Supporting the Republic of Iraq in defending its democratic system against internal and external threats.

an open-ended defence commitment (there will always be some "enemy") that in any other context would be the subject of a treaty and therefore require Senate ratification. Thus Bush's response to his apparent concession of agreeing any timeline for being out of Iraq is to rub the Senate's nose in his intention to do an end-run around his constitutional obligations. One of the many questions is whether he's attempting to constrain Barack Obama's visit to Iraq.